Bring me sunshine

 

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Morecambe and Wise 

The long drive home

 

Just got home after a long long drive. I won't bore you with the details and the standard of driving we encountered on the journey.

But it got me thinking ... and I don't mean to be sacrilegious folks ...  

What kind of driver Jesus would have been if He had a car?

Let's think about this seriously for a while. When driving we all meet with different standards of behaviours out there. We have to make quick decisions, safe decisions and drive at a standard which would be exemplary to everyone even when we're very tired and our concentration is not at its best.

So the question is: Do we drive as Jesus would have driven if He had a car?

Where do we fall below the standard required?

Human Values

 

If da Vinci had hidden his Mona Lisa painting somewhere secret and no one had seen it except himself, would that have made it more or less valuable than it is now?

The Mona Lisa painting is unique. Why is it more, (or less), valuable than any other unique painting by any other artist?

Why is there a different value placed on different paintings by different artists? They are all unique in their own way.

Why does someone want to pay so much money for a unique painting? Someone may have one painting, someone else may have another. Does it really matter who owns which painting and their relative values?

How about other items such as antique furniture, jewellery, signed autographed books or photos and such like old items? Why are they valued so highly? Someone might have an antique delicate piece of pottery or porcelain, and someone else may have an old coin from many years gone by. Why the high values on each item and why one higher than the other?

What about people? We are all unique in our own way. What value do we place on people? And why do we value someone more, (or less), than someone else?

P.S. I have been told not to autograph my books because it cheapens their value and spoils the book. 

On the Radio

 

As some of my regular readers will know, some years ago, I used to present a Christian radio program called Time For Reflections. 

I have managed to retrieve some old tapes which I have put together in a folder called Reflections Soundtracks (See the link at the top of this page).

You may wish to listen to some of these Christian broadcasts by clicking the link above, or click the picture of the radio above. Or even click the radio on the right hand column of this Blog.

 Here below is one of those broadcasts:

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Don't give up 

Miss You Nights

 

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Cliff Richard 

 

 

Je ne comprends pas

 

The other day I attended a business conference in another town. The meeting was open to people from various organisations from many different countries, so there were plenty of people I had never met before.

I was standing in this large area with my briefcase at my feet enjoying a cup of coffee when this very attractive brunette lady wearing a very low cut black décolleté dress a few sizes too short approached me and started talking in Greek.

I couldn't understand a word she said. It was all Greek to me, as they say. I knew she spoke in Greek because a distant aunt of mine (she lives 300 miles away) is Greek and I could make out the language even though I could not understand what this young lady was saying.

I regretted not having my dictionary with me at the time. Not that it would have helped. It's an Italian dictionary. I like to carry it with me to impress the waiters in restaurants when I order a meal. I once ordered a whole meal in Italian and the waiter did not understand a word. It was a Chinese restaurant. But I digress.

Anyway, this young lady was enthusiastic about something or other and she talked fast in her native Greek and smiled a lot.

My mind went back to the many times I visited my aunt and I tried to remember some of the Greek words I had heard in her household. Words like youvarlakia, avgolemono, dolmades and baklava.

But I could hardly spout them out incoherently just because they were in Greek. Besides, they mean meat balls, chicken and lemon soup, stuffed vine leaves and a pastry sweet with syrup. Can you imagine a woman speaking to me in Greek and I reply "meatballs!" She'd think I was insulting her and not believing a word she is saying.

Try as I might to look blankly at her and saying politely, "Yo no hablo español !!!" she still continued smiling and speaking in Greek without as much as taking a breath.

I then remembered the famous Voltaire quote and said, "I may not understand a word you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to confuse me!"

She stopped for a while, perhaps wondering why I replied in English, then continued speaking to me in Greek as if nothing had happened.

It was then I remembered another phrase which my dear aunt used to say, time and again, to her daughter. I repeated it silently in my head once or twice to get the intonation and the pronunciation right and then, taking a deep breath, I said, "I foústa sas eínai polý mikrí ..."

The woman stopped abruptly and then slapped me in the face. She then turned round and walked away and vanished in the crowd of people in the conference room.

I just about managed to hold on to my cup of coffee and save it from crashing to the floor. I tried to compose myself and look as if nothing had happened, hoping that no one noticed me.

It was then that a man approached me and asked me, "Why did you tell her 'Your skirt is too short?' "  

This was an excerpt from my book 

SPEAKING FROM MY SOCK

Paperback and Kindle from AMAZON

CLICK HERE

 

Juke Box

 

Yesterday Mevely asked me to install a Juke Box. OK ... here it is above and on the right hand margin ----->  ----->  ----->

 

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Barry Manilow 

Only the lonely

 

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Roy Orbison 

 

 

Vision and Perspective

 

It was a clear night. I looked up to the sky and there was a clear full moon. It was bright and shining white. I could also see a lot of stars twinkling up there. I wondered if any of them were planets. Some much bigger than earth like Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter; known as gas giants.   

I was in awe. How could these big circles, or globes, be up there hanging in mid-air, clearly visible and shining so bright? 

It suddenly was very real to me. I always took the moon and stars for granted. Seen but not noticed. Like so many things in our lives that we do not appreciate or value until they are no more.

I wondered about the grandeur of it all. They did not just happen to be there. Someone put them there.

I stood there watching as a frisson ran down my spine.

Last night, the moon and stars spoke to me.

They said, "Get inside you fool before you catch your death of cold!"

You see, life is all about the vision and perspective we have. We could see things and not notice them, or we could consider their significance in our lives and our very existence. 

A problem can be an insurmountable obstacle or a molehill. Or perhaps an opportunity in disguise.

It's all a matter of the right vision, the right perspective and ... an unshakable Faith.

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Johnny Nash

Have you heard God?

 

Imagine God spoke to you. 

You are alone at home, perhaps in your garden, or you are out on a walk in the countryside or by the sea, and God spoke to you.

How would He sound like?

Would He have a loud baritone voice like that of Morgan Freeman in the film Evan Almighty? Or would He sound like George Burns in the film Oh God!? Or would He sound like Jesus, a soft kind voice, like in all the films on TV and the cinema?

And what would He say to you to stop you from being traumatised and frightened out of your mind?

Whatever He said would certainly shake you like nothing ever before.

I wonder, why doesn't God speak clearly to us today as He did in the Old Testament times? We know He spoke to the prophets and to people like Abraham, Moses and others like Noah and Jonah; so why not speak to us today?

Actually, it is because we humans (or our ancestors to be precise) asked Him not to. At the time of Moses God spoke loudly.  

The Israelites heard the voice of God clearly and were frightened that they would die, so they asked Moses to go and listen to God and relay His messages to the people. They asked God to stop talking; and God agreed. (Deuteronomy 5:23 onwards ...)

However, since then and up to now, God continues to speak to people softly in their souls. It may not be a loud voice as in the times of Moses, but He does speak to us - you and me - if only we are willing to listen.

And before you ask ... when God is speaking to you He makes sure you know it is Him speaking to you.

Love

 

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 'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all. 

 

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

Is this really true? Sometimes the one we have lost still lingers in our memories as we wonder what might have been.

 

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Harry Nilsson 

 

Big Bang Theory Explained Simply

 

 

I don't know why some people have difficulty believing the Big Bang Theory of creation. 

It is very simple.

There was a Big Bang precisely 13.8 billion years ago (give or take a billion years either way) and somehow all the energy in the cosmos was squeezed inside a small space smaller than an atom. 

And then this energy ballooned at a great rate. 

And then all this heat produced began to cool and by 380,000 years later it cooled enough for things to begin to happen. 

Long story short, we got all the planets and the sun and Earth and moons and so on. And that's how the Universe started.

And eventually, on Earth some slime left a pool of muddy water and slowly evolved into a life form; which eventually evolved into humans.

Simple isn't it? 

We all originate from slime and we evolved into what we are now. Although some are still evolving. 

What's so difficult about that? 

At work a colleague of mine was hit in the face by an automatically operated door which opened outwards and "BANG" broke her nose. She went to hospital and they fixed it given her a much more pretty nose. It would not have happened without the DOOR BANG.

BANG !!! &*** ? ****@ ? !!! 

Sorry about that. She just hit me on the head for writing about her!

Tales of Tails

 

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8176605044 

TALES OF TAILS

This is a very unusual book indeed. It was written by a man and his pets.

Do you like animals? Then this book is for you. It contains loads and loads of humourous (and serious) facts about animals, and birds, and fishes, and insects, and all sorts of other creatures.

Did you know for instance that if an earwig enters your ear it can get out of the other ear and you would not feel a thing?

Or if a snail climbs up your leg it would take a week before you get excited?

Or when a bat sleeps upside down it goes to the bathroom whilst asleep? Try it yourself hanging from a hammock and see!

These and many other facts are included in this book, which you can fact-check for yourself, or just sit back and enjoy the humour instead.

Each article in this book (there are over 60) has a hidden moral. Find out what it is, or make up one of your own.

Life is meant to be funny. Don’t take it seriously. Have you ever seen an animal worried about tomorrow?

Just relax and enjoy!

IDEAL CHRISTMAS GIFT

 

AMAZON LINK HERE 

I watch the sunrise

 

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FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE

 

WEBSITE HERE

 

 

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I watch the sunrise lighting the sky,
Casting its shadows near.
And on this morning bright though it be,
I feel those shadows near me.

 

But you are always close to me
Following all my ways.
May I be always close to you
Following all your ways, Lord.

 

I watch the sunlight shine through the clouds,
Warming the earth below.
And at the mid-day, life seems to say:
I feel your brightness near me.

 

For you are always close to me
Following all my ways.
May I be always close to you
Following all your ways, Lord.

 

I watch the sunset fading away,
Lighting the clouds with sleep.
And as the evening closes its eyes,
I feel your presence near me.

 

For you are always close to me
Following all my ways.
May I be always close to you
Following all your ways, Lord.

 

I watch the moonlight guarding the night,
Waiting till morning comes.
The air is silent, earth is at rest
Only your peace is near me.

 

Yes, you are always close to me
Following all my ways.
May I be always close to you
Following all your ways, Lord.

 

 May I be always close to you
Following all your ways, Lord.

We all need some laughter ... or a smile

 

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